Hermantown's undefeated regular season was only good enough to earn a second seed in the Section 7AAAA high school football playoffs.
The Hawks (8-0) were seeded behind fellow unbeaten Bemidji when the final Quality Results Formula was released Thursday. This is the first year that the Minnesota State High School League has allowed sections to use the QRF to determine seedings.
Both schools received a bye in Tuesday's first round.
Duluth Denfeld (2-6) was seeded fifth and will play at No. 4 Grand Rapids.
Moose Lake-Willow River and North Woods, the other unbeaten teams in Northeastern Minnesota, received top seeds. The second-ranked Rebels host Duluth Marshall in a first-round game in Section 7AA, which also used the QRF rankings, while North Woods is tops in Section 7 Nine-Man.
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In other pairings:
McGregor earned top billing in Section 5 Nine-Man via the QRF, though No. 2 seed Silver Bay has had its best season in recent memory. Proctor 16, Virginia 15
Kaz Anderson ran 16 yards with 1:14 to play to lift the Rails to a one-point victory over the host Blue Devils (5-3 overall, 5-2 conference) in a Sea-Range Conference game Wednesday night.
Anderson earlier tossed a 5-yard scoring pass to Jake Lewis.
Virginia closed the regular season 4-4 and 4-3.
Proctor 7-3-0-6--16
Virginia 0-15-0-0--15
P -- Jake Lewis 5 pass from Kaz Anderson (Tyler Schubert kick)
V -- Chris Falkowski 12 pass from Cade Stackpool (Marty Thorne kick)
P -- Schubert 29 field goal
V -- Stackpool 60 run (Ty Wilson pass from Stackpool)
P -- Anderson 16 run (pass failed)
Cloquet 37, Hibbing 14
Kaleb Kadelbach rushed for 147 yards and scored two touchdowns and quarterback Kellin Lamirande ran for 145 yards and two more scores as the host Lumberjacks overcame a 14-0 deficit to win the Sea-Range Conference game Wednesday night.
Cloquet (3-5, 3-4) totaled 512 yards on the ground.
Hibbing 14-0-0-0--14
Cloquet 0-28-9-6--37
H -- Chris Hanson 41 fumble return (Michael Hardy kick)
H -- Tyler Graff 33 run (Hardy kick)
C -- Kaleb Kadelbach 3 run (Trent Moe kick)
C -- Kadelbach 11 run (Moe kick)
C -- Brad Butcher 15 run (kick blocked)
C -- Kellin Lamirande 5 run (Lamirande run)
C -- Moe 25 field goal
C -- Lamirande 62 run (kick failed)
C -- Henry Backus 7 run (kick blocked)
Hutchinson 36, Grand Rapids 14
McKinley Anderson passed for two touchdowns and Zach Miner ran for a pair to lead the host Tigers to the nonconference win Wednesday.
Austin Pohlen threw for a score and ran for another for the Thunderhawks (3-5).
Grand Rapids 7-0-0-7--14
Hutchinson 13-17-0-6--36
H -- Anthony Settergren 52 run (Justin Schmitt kick)
H -- Mitch Petersen 25 pass from McKinley Anderson (kick failed)
GR -- Austin Wiberg 7 pass from Austin Pohlen (Brice Becker kick)
H -- Zach Miner 36 run (Schmitt kick)
H -- Trace Adams 40 pass from Anderson (Schmitt kick)
H -- Schmitt 22 field goal
GR -- Pohlen 2 run (Becker kick)
H -- Miner 1 run (kick failed)
Ogilvie 59, Mesabi East 0
Jake Hickerson ran for 234 yards and three touchdowns as the host Lions blanked the Giants in a Great Polar Red game.
Hickerson had touchdown runs of 20, 40 and 70 yards for Ogilvie (7-1, 5-1). Hunter Welinski accounted for three additional touchdowns for the Lions.
Mesabi East 0-0-0-0--0
Ogilvie 16-21-14-8--59
O -- Jake Hickerson 20 run (Hunter Welinski run)
O -- Welinski 3 run (Welinski run)
O -- Brian Hoff 3 pass from Welinski (Blake Persson kick)
O -- Hickerson 40 run (Persson kick)
O -- Welinski 3 run (Persson kick)
O -- Hickerson 70 run (Persson kick)
O -- Bo Stevens 2 run (Persson kick)
O -- Safety
O -- Stevens 24 run (run failed)
Ely 39, East Central 29
Sean Fisher's 54-yard run helped the host Timberwolves outscore the Eagles 16-7 in the fourth quarter in the Great Polar Red victory.
Fisher finished with 215 yards rushing and also threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Mark Heiman. Louis Gerzin added 102 yards rushing and two touchdowns for Ely (5-3, 4-3).
East Central 0-14-8-7--29
Ely 9-8-6-16--39
E -- Safety
E -- Mark Heiman 26 pass from Sean Fisher (Jory Johnson kick)
E -- Sean Jordan 1 run (Fisher run)
EC -- Bart Johnson 4 run (run)
EC -- Johnson 41 pass from Corey Sura (conversion failed)
E -- Louis Gerzin 26 run (run failed)
EC -- Sura 4 run (conversion)
E -- Gerzin 1 run (Fisher run)
E -- Fisher 54 run (Greg Helget run)
EC -- Steven Gunderson 18 pass from Sura (kick)
McGregor 53, Northland-Remer 8
Alex Carlstrom returned the opening kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown and the host Mercuries (7-1, 7-1) rolled to a 47-0 halftime lead en route to earning a share of the Great Northern Conference title.
Carlstrom also had a 60-yard touchdown run and finished the regular season with 1,235 yards rushing.
Northland-Remer 0-0-8-0--8
McGregor 27-20-0-6--53
M -- Alex Carlstrom 82 kickoff return (Ben Belz run)
M -- Belz 56 run (Dylan Wilkie kick)
M -- Dan Gelhar 14 pass from Kalvin Becker (kick failed)
M -- Tim Tierney 34 run (Wilkie kick)
M -- Carlstrom 60 run (Wilkie kick)
M -- Gelhar 54 interception (kick failed)
M -- Andrew DeMenge 45 run (kick failed)
NR -- Aaron Jonhson 75 pass from Patrick Kemper (Kemper pass from Johnson)
M -- Andrew DeMenge 19 run (kick failed)
Cromwell 38, Wrenshall 0
Tyler Hakamaki and Jared Hutar each had two short scoring runs as the visiting Cardinals closed the Great Northern season by handing the Wrens their fourth shutout.
Cromwell 22-9-7-0--38
Wrenshall 0-0-0-0--0
C -- Tyler Hakamaki 1 run (Hakamaki run)
C -- Jared Hutar 5 run (Luis Martins kick)
C -- Hakamaki 5 run (Martins kick)
C -- Safety, blocked punt out of end zone
C -- Austin Johnson 16 pass from Hutar (Martins kick)
C-- Hutar 5 run (Martins kick)
Mountain Iron-Buhl 59, Cherry 14
Tyler Goodrie rushed for 197 yards and scored four touchdowns on just seven carries in the Rangers' Big North win over the Tigers on Wednesday.
Goodrie scored on runs of 48, 12, 44 and 51 yards and also added a 75-yard punt return for a score.
Deven Rowe opened the game with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for MIB (5-3, 5-3) and also scored on a 55-yard run.
